Tag Archives: Blogging

Newcomer's Guide to Blogging

A blog is basically an online journal wherein you can digitally pen down your thoughts, ideas, opinions and practically anything that you want people to read. Blogs come in different styles, formats, and settings, depending on the preference of the user. Many blogging sites, offer built in features such as hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc. Some blogging sites, even allow you to put video and mp3's on your blogs.

Instead of writing texts, some bloggers choose to make their blogs more audio friendly, by using spoken word entries. This is called audio blogging.

Basically a blog contains these features:

Title – which allows you to label your post

Body – this is the content of your post

Trackback – other sites can be linked back to your blog

Permanent link – every article that you write has a URL

Comments – this allow readers to post comments on your blog.

One of the advantages of blogging, is that it is made of only a few templates. Unlike, other websites that is made up of numerous individual pages. This make it easier for blog users to create new pages, because it already has a fix setting that include: slots for title, body of the post, category, etc.

This is especially useful for first time users, since they can start blogging right away. They can chose from a number of templates that blogging websites provide.

Anyone who wants to start a blog can do so by becoming a member of a blogging website of their choice. Once they've become members, they automatically become a part of that particular blogging community. They can browse through other bloggers pages, and link them back to their own blogs. They can also make comments on other members' blogs.

Blogging is not just limited to personal usage. There are a lot of blogs that follow a theme such as: sports, politics, philosophy, social commentary, etc. These blogs espouse on their specific themes. This way blogging becomes a medium in which people can share their knowledge and opinions about a variety of themes and topics.

Some bloggers even use their blogs as a means to advertise. Some authors advertise their books on their blogs. While other bloggers, use their blogs to shed light to currents issues, events, news and catastrophes.

Nowadays in education, blogs also play an important part. Professors use blogging to document the lessons that they have discussed and taught. This way, students who have missed classes, can easily catch up with their assignments.

A lot of entrepreneurs benefit from blogging by promoting their businesses on their blogs, with millions and millions of people logging onto the net every day, blogging has become a lucrative move. Some bloggers who run online businesses promote their merchandise online. While others profit through advertisement.

But by far, the most popular blog type is the one that takes the form of a personal journal. This is the kind that is usually used by first time bloggers. Individuals who want to document the daily struggle of their everyday lives, poems, rants, opinions, find that blogging offers them a medium in which to express themselves.

Bloggers usually communicate within themselves. This is one of the appeals of blogging. It creates a community of people sharing their ideas, thoughts, and comments with each other.

Blogs varying in topics, themes, and set-ups, can be found in blog directories. First time users who want to get an idea of what the blogging world is all about can browse through a number of blogs using these directories. This way they'd get an idea of what these blogging communities are like.

Blogging is popular all over the world. Blog is short for the term weblog. There are no rules when it comes to blogging. Bloggers have the freedom to express themselves however way they want, and the best thing about blogging, is that most blogging sites are free.

There are numerous blogging websites to choose from in the net. This give first time users the option of joining a blogging community that appeals to their interests.

Just search any blogging directory and you'd get a listing of a lot of blogging sites that are available on the net. It's easy to search a blogging directory, because it is organized according to category. This way you would get exactly what you are after. Blogging is really for everyone. It is fun, simple and easy.

MarketHive Inbound Marketing Tools for Entrepreneurs

MarketHive is a social networking site designed for entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, MarketHive isn't only a social networking website, in addition, it includes a blogging platform, plus some very effective online marketing tools to allow entrepreneurs to be successful marketing their Internet business, services and products.

Below you will find some of the marketing tools you will receive once you sign up for Markethive:

• Autoresponders

• E-mail Broadcasting

• Blogging Platform

• Capture Pages

• One Click Lead Generation System

• Conference Room and a whole lot more

You might be curious about how much actually does MarketHive charge for these amazing online marketing tools, well the answer really is these Internet marketing tools are totally free of charge for life, no strings attached. Basically these online marketing tools would cost you hundreds of dollars per month, not at MarketHive. This is the good news for the beginner as well as the veteran Internet marketer.

Blogging is not a new activity, at least for those who jumped on the blogger bandwagon a couple of years ago. But more recently, it’s become a platform for all kinds of social, commercial and personal stories and information. While blogging may have started out as an internet fad, these days it’s much more widely used in business, as well as by individuals.

Blogging – tell your stories.

We love telling our tales of woe or triumph, writing witty anecdotes, or simply sharing our thoughts with the rest of the world. Blogging has given us the opportunity to get our opinions published for everyone to see, to comment on the latest big news items or celebrity gossip. Writing down our daily thoughts helps us to get the worries and frustrations of life out of our heads and lets us share our big moments on the blogging pages.

Blogging – share your interests.

One of the fantastic things about blogging is that we can write about absolutely anything; hobbies, lifestyle, children, school and work. There’s a whole host of blogging sites dedicated to particular interests, and we can keep up to date with other people’s views on things that we have in common. Whether it’s the latest technology, gadgets, cars or computer games, or things like travel and holidays, we can stay in touch with the most up to date information.

Blogging – get involved in the community.

Charity associations, local clubs, and community groups can use blogging to get their organizations known by a wider reaching audience. Online accounts of recent events is a great way to use blogging pages to get publicity, while a short piece on the next meeting or class can help promote the work of the club, and may even attract more participants or volunteers. The great advantage of blogging over writing web pages is that it’s quick and easy, and can be done by almost anyone!

Blogging – promote your business.

Many companies now use blogging pages as an informal way of connecting with their customers. For the smaller, or new business owners, it’s an excellent way to publicize their products without expensive advertising costs. Just by posting a regular blogging column, small companies can often draw in more business than by the more conventional methods.

Blogging – making a profit.

The biggest shake-up in the blogging explosion has most likely been caused by internet entrepreneurs. Promoting their online products and services has been helped tremendously by putting up several blogs to support their ventures. Blogging has hugely increased the potential traffic to new and existing websites, giving the marketers much more exposure to people using search engines for specific information. Blogging in itself has become a money-making business, even for beginners in the internet marketing business.

Having become one of the greatest internet resources for all types of people, blogging is usually free, easy to get started, and gives us all the opportunity to reach a massive worldwide audience!

MarketHive Inbound Marketing Tools for Entrepreneurs

MarketHive is a social networking site designed for entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, MarketHive isn't only a social networking website, in addition, it includes a blogging platform, plus some very effective online marketing tools to allow entrepreneurs to be successful marketing their Internet business, services and products.

Below you will find some of the marketing tools you will receive once you sign up for Markethive:

• Autoresponders

• E-mail Broadcasting

• Blogging Platform

• Capture Pages

• One Click Lead Generation System

• Conference Room and a whole lot more

You might be curious about how much actually does MarketHive charge for these amazing online marketing tools, well the answer really is these Internet marketing tools are totally free of charge for life, no strings attached. Basically these online marketing tools would cost you hundreds of dollars per month, not at MarketHive. This is the good news for the beginner as well as the veteran Internet marketer.

Multi-Million Dollar Inbound Social Marketing Platform In Pre-Launch

Markethive has created a Multi-Million Dollar inbound social marketing platform that will rival the existing social media platforms in many ways.

Many times change comes along and we don't recognize it until its too late. Internet Marketing has changed with the advent of Millennials all searching for information specific as to what they want, no longer does SEO [Search Engine Optimization] play a major role in getting noticed on the internet. Millennials want to find information, not have it jammed down their throat.

They are seekers not persuaders!

The new trend of getting noticed on the internet is through referral basis. No longer do you have to pack your articles or website full of key words and hope the search engines notice them and give them top ranking, today you just have to make sure your message gets out to the public in a social way where people notice it, and then come to you for more information. Social Infusion Marketing is the new way to market your goods and services with people seeing what you are offering, and when the time comes that the person needs your offer they will take action.

Markethive has perfected Social Infusion Marketing with a unique social platform that allows anyone who is interested in marketing their products or company to be able to do it without paying huge sums of money to get noticed. No longer does anyone have to put up with the confusing language of the SEO guru's who charge outrageous sums of money with little results, you can do it yourself!

The Markethive platform is Free to join and use, and is funded partially by an advertising platform that enables the entrepreneur to get a huge reach with low cost. Markethive is built for the Global entrepreneur, and gives them a level playing field in a world that is cluttered with everyone trying to get into each others pocket financially.

So if you have read this far, Markethive is rolling out a Pre-Launch offer, before it goes to Crowdfunding, to anyone who want to join up and learn how to use this platform to grow their business. The Social part is being built by adding as many people as possible and assisting them in growing their business through Social Infusion Marketing.

To join just click hereand you will be directed to a sign up page where you can enter the platform and poke around. Here is the secret, when the platform goes to CrowdFunding the people responsible will share in the rewards, so don't waste time this launch will be HUGE!

Thanks for reading,
Dr. Raymond Jewell

Thanks to Dr. Raymond Jewell for this informative article. Dr. Jewell is a leading Economist specializing in the Small and Home Based Business Marketplace. He is a Alpha Founder with Markethive and manages several blogs on the hive. Dr. Jewell is a professional Network Marketer and represents several companies successfully.

Modern Marketing: The Power of the Outbound Link

Determining the correct SEO and marketing strategies can be a bit difficult in this day and age. One of the most common “gray” areas centers around the use of outbound links. There are arguments both for and against their use and unfortunately, these strategies have often been associated with negative effects (1). This is much more of a myth than a reality. The fact of the matter is that outbound links have ALWAYS been used to boost SERP rankings and enhance SEO techniques. So why should marketers always employ these handy tools within their sites and what are some of the most profound benefits that they have to offer?

Added (and Scalable) Value

Even if you spend years developing a powerful website which offers turnkey solutions within your niche market, the simple fact is that you cannot be everything for everyone at the same time. To put it simply, some users will still not find what it is that they may be looking for. Quality outbound links can help to bridge this informational gap. Leveraging the power and sheer breadth of the online community will help to provide a better personal experience to the visitor. In other words, sites which offer relevant links to similar websites will be perceived better by the visitor. In turn, they can be prone to associate your portal with a higher level of quality. Let's also remember that tracking clickthrough rates and similar metrics is much easier if you include outbound links within your content.

Agreeable to Algorithms

We have all heard how Google is changing its ranking methods. Over time, these overlords have become much more discriminating in terms of how a website is perceived and as their algorithms become smarter, targeted keywords and a clean layout are no longer enough. Quality outbound links provide two major benefits (2):

Low-quality sites tend to include spam-filled links and unsurprisingly, these portals will suffer in terms of exposure. It is likely that the algorithmic demands from Google will become even more stringent into the foreseeable future.

Linking Out and Linking In?

Whether or not we realize it, we are all part of a greater online community. One of the mistakes that can be made is to assume that outbound links offer a one-off effect and that this effect ends once the user navigates to the page in question. However, websites which provide reputable links to other portals also tend to enjoy a greater number of inbound links. This arises from the fact that third-party sites and content managers will appreciate that you are “spreading the word”. They are more likely to return the favor and feature your product or service on their page. This is perhaps where the term “link” came from; we are all parts of an ever-increasing virtual marketing chain.

Further Engagement

Finally, we need to appreciate that outbound links create opportunities for other professionals (such as bloggers, forum members, and social media experts) to visit and interact with your site. This can help to add a sense of reputability and once again, such engagement will further boost your rankings.

Of course, the term “quality” has been used in this article multiple times. It is only through transparent and trustworthy link-building techniques that you will enjoy such benefits. Much like any other marketing strategy, you get out what you initially put in!

Making Your Blog Stand Out and Look Professional

If you are attempting to create a successful blog for personal or business reasons, you should know that looks do count. Many bloggers make the mistake of thinking that looks are not as important as content, since readers are essentially reading your blog for the words, not the way it looks.

This is true to some degree. The fact is however that people will not take your words seriously if your blog looks less than attractive. To have a successful blog you have to have it all. You must have interesting content as well as a great look. If you want to update the look of your blog, consider the following areas of importance.

Easy To Scan

The way your blog reads on a page is an extremely important part of your blog’s look. You should always remember to keep your blog posts short and to the point.

If you are treating your blog as a personal diary, your posts may be a little longer than normal. But, if you are trying to get more traffic to your blog, then you really want to focus your attention on short posts that offer the main point easily.

Most blog readers will only scan your posts, not read them word for word. So keep this in mind when you are writing. The shorter the post, the more likely they will be read. If your blog is easy to scan because the posts are short and the breaks are clear, you will have a great looking blog.

Professional Edge

When designing or redesigning your blog, try to make it as professional looking as possible. Even if the blog is not for a business, the more professional it looks, the more seriously people will take it. Not everyone knows a lot about programming, so you may need to research it a bit. If you have the extra funds, you might even want to get a professional to program it for you. No matter what you have to do, just keep a level of professionalism in your mind throughout the designing process.

Friendly Colors

Most people don’t think twice about what colors they choose for their blog. The facts are that some colors come across better on the web than others. Blue and black are easy to see, so they are always great choices to use.

Sea-green, beige, or purple are also great soothing colors to use for a blog. You should stay away from using colors like pink, yellow, or any neon varieties. They are extremely hard on the eyes when reading them online and can deter people from reading your blog. Keep these color tips in mind when you design your blog to get the best results.

Appropriate Graphics

It has been noted that the use of pictures on your blog is a great way to boost traffic. Blogs that offer pictures that correlate with their content are fantastic.

Readers love to connect with the content further through pictures. With most blogging software offering ways to easily add pictures, it should not be a problem for most publishers to add them right into the blog. If you do have trouble, consider checking the “help” area in your blogging software for more information.

The information there should provide you with step by step instructions to help you get on your way.

Successful Layout

Most people who design blogs and websites will tell you that the layout does matter as well. The way a blog looks to the reader in important in terms of layout.

The layout should be clear and defined. If the reader is confused by the layout, they will likely not stick around to explore. They will most likely go right on to the next blog available. If you are letting a professional design your blog, you will likely not need to worry much about the layout. However, if you are doing it yourself, take a look at other successful sites to get ideas about what works and what doesn’t.

Lastly, simply test different layouts on your friends and family to see which ones they find the most suitable for your blog.

Expected Google Algorithmic Trends for 2016

SERP rankings are important for your business to enjoy the success that it deserves. Unfortunately, we can often become too caught up in standard marketing approaches and fail to realize that many of these could be outdated due to a Google algorithmic update.

Although even the experts are not certain as to what we can expect for 2016, there are a few likely trends which could very well take shape in the months ahead. Let's take a look at a handful of the most dramatic.

Duration-Based Video Rankings

This trend is actually quite interesting, for it signals that Google is placing more importance on the overall user experience than ever before. We are all aware that videos now play a massive role in rankings and client conversions, but this is predicted to substantially change in 2016 (1). Google will now view how long a visitor spends watching a video under the assumption that longer viewing times indicate content of a higher quality. So, this could also affect your SERP rankings. Keep your videos short, to the point and most importantly, entertaining!

Email Interaction

This next prediction has actually caught some users by surprise. In the past, companies would have been only mildly concerned with how their emails were categorized based upon their content. It was volume more than anything else. Some believe that Google may begin to incorporate which folder an email is sent to alongside standard rankings.

For example, messages which are defined as spam could have an impact upon your overall rankings. This very same concept could apply if a user automatically marks an email as spam or places it into her or her junk folder. So, quality will need to be emphasized over sheer quantity.

Rich Search Results

You may have noticed that certain searches provide more in-depth results (such as Wikipedia, Google maps or links to videos) than others. This is another “wave” within the SERP Ocean that is expected to take shape. This is actually considered to be more of an ongoing trend than a future prediction (2).

Sites that rank higher and which are able to offer high-quality content are likely to enjoy a better visual presence within the SERP in general. This professional appearance will obviously lead to higher inbound hits and increased conversion rates. Meta tags, adding PageMap data and rich snippets can all help you to develop such a presence.

Mobile-Friendly Advertisements

This should once again come as no great surprise considering the emphasis that is now placed upon mobile-responsive websites. For some time, Google has been adapting their search engine to accommodate the needs of modern mobile phones. However, we should note here that they recently filed for a patent to transform the bulk of their texts to meet the needs of the smartphone-wired consumer (3). Why is this important for your site? Assuming that your page is not able to meet the needs of the mobile user, its rankings will suffer even more than in the past. So, it is now more important than ever before to include such features as long-scrolling pages, easily downloadable graphics and an overall uncluttered page to appeal to the mobile user.

As we have mentioned previously, there is still a number of questions in relation to what we may or may not see emerge from the bowels of Google in the coming months. We have only highlighted some of the most important areas to take into account. Adapting to these trends now can save you a great deal of time and frustration in the not-so-distant future.

Being able to earn a living by working on your own websites and projects is a dream scenario for many people, no doubt for the reader as well. There are countless people working in “regular” jobs that would love to have more freedom and the ability to make more money, and having a successful online business is an ideal solution.

So although it is an ideal situation I am sure that many people who would like to be in that situation don’t have a very accurate idea of what it is really like to earn a living by running your own online business.

This article will cover ten realities about working as a self-employed blogger or internet marketer.

1. You must exercise self-discipline

When I first left my full-time job to work online I had a lot of friends and family members comment about my schedule or ask questions about how much I’d be working. For some reason a lot of people think the flexibility that comes with running an online business means that you can be lazy.

If I had left my job to start a traditional business no one would ask me if I’d be sleeping in, but with an online business that seemed to be a common assumption.

In reality, earning a living from your own websites and blogs requires a great deal of discipline. There is no boss telling you to start work at a specific time, no designated amount of time for a lunch break, no exact limit on vacation days, and no one telling you what you need to be working on and how to spend your time.

You have to be able to make all of these decisions on your own, and you’ll need discipline to stay on task and to treat it like the business that it is.

2. Your income is not likely to be steady

One of the challenges is getting used to an income that will fluctuate from month-to-month and year-to-year.

If you’re used to working at a job with a consistent salary, like I was, there will be some changes once your primary income is from your own online projects, whether it is from websites that you own or from services that you provide to clients.

You can’t always know ahead of time how much money you’ll make in any given month, so you’ll need to be able to get comfortable with this situation. It’s a good idea to learn to live below your means, at least at first, to avoid a situation where your income is less than expected and you can’t afford to pay your bills.

3. Self-employment doesn’t mean that you don’t have a job or a boss

Working on your own websites and projects can possibly allow you a lot more freedom than you would have with a typical job, but this is not necessarily always the case.

For example, leaving a full-time job I had been working on growing my own website for about a year and a half, and even though the income from that site was growing nicely, it wasn’t enough to replace the salary I was used to making.

To supplement the income from my site I also had to do a lot of work as a freelance blogger and also was able to do some web design work for clients. The clients that paid me for writing and designing essentially became my new boss at my new job. While working as a freelancer does offer a little more flexibility than a typical 9-5 job, the ones who hire you are still essentially your bosses.

Whether it is an online business or a traditional business, being self-employed doesn’t mean that you don’t have a job.

If I stop working today there would be some residual income from product sales, AdSense, and affiliate products that would continue to come for some time, but if I did not continue to work on these things they would decrease and eventually dry up.

I would not, at this point, have a business that would run very efficiently or effectively without my own continued efforts. Essentially, I replaced my old full-time job as an employee with my current full-time job where I work for myself.

Yes, I do make more money now, I have more flexibility, and I enjoy what I do, but I have to remind myself that I still have a job.

The ultimate goal for most anyone who works online, myself included, is to eventually become a business owner where the business can be sustained without full-time effort or hours from the owner.

4. It takes significant time to build a business

When someone starts a traditional business they usually understand that it will take some time for the business to become profitable. Some successful businesses have a development phase which may take years before they really turn a profit.

When it comes to online businesses, most people have an expectation of seeing instant results. Building a business requires time, whether it is an online business or a more traditional business.

One important advantage that you have with online business is that the expenses and initial investment will usually be significantly lower when compared to a traditional business, but becoming profitable still takes time.

Over the years I’ve seen many people start websites or blogs or online businesses with great expectations but they give up within a month or two when they realize it’s going to take more time and effort than they expected.

You have to approach your online projects with the right mindset and realistic expectations; then you’ll be well ahead of most people and you’ll have a much better chance of sticking with it until you attain your goals.

5. You will probably be misunderstood as to what you do for a living

I’ve worked on my own websites and blogs for more than 5 years now, and most of my friends and family really don’t have a good idea what I do or how to make money. If you tell people you make money by blogging, most people can’t conceive how you actually make money with a blog, and may get some pretty interesting questions.

6. Don’t forget to reckon with your business expenses!

In the world of internet marketing and “make money online” blogs you see a lot of products and courses that make specific claims about the amount of money that some other person was able to earn, but very rarely will you see many details about what expenses are involved. Not too long ago I purchased a product from a well-known marketer showing how easy it is to make $1,000 virtually overnight by following a specific system.

The course shows the exact amount of money that this person supposedly made using paid traffic, but there is no mention of how much money was spent to get that traffic.

Generating $1,000 in gross receipts is not the same thing as turning $1,000 in profit. Business expenses are often minimized when it comes to making money online, but it is crucial to consider these expenses when calculating how much you expect to earn.

Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income is a rare example of someone who mentions expenses in his monthly income reports.

7. Income potential is known to be high

With a traditional job your potential earnings may be limited by various criteria: the type of work that you do, the length of time that you’ve worked for the company, the degrees or certifications that you have, the co-workers salaries, and even the amount that your boss makes. In some cases these limitations are rather arbitrary and preclude you from earning what you are truly worth to your employer.

Earning a living from your own websites and projects is completely different. There are no limitations, and if are able to become good at what you do the potential is very high. Of course, there are no guarantees that you will make more than what you could make at a traditional job, and many people will never be able to reach that level. However, the potential is there, and if are willing to work hard, have some patience, and learn a lot along the way, there are many opportunities for making money online.

8. You’re building assets by the work you do online

When I left my full-time job I took my last pay check a week or two later, and that was the end of my income from that job. In 2013 I finally reached the position of being able to sell the website that had been making income at for several years (and also my primary “job”), and when I walked away from that website/job I was able to turn a healthy profit from the buyer..

When you’re working on your own websites and projects it is like building assets that can be used to bring in future revenue for you, or which could be sold to someone else. A profitable website is truly an asset. The mailing list you’re building is an asset. Any goods or services you create are assets. All of these things help you to earn a living now, and unlike a typical job, you also have the potential to get turn a healthy profit by selling the assets.

When you’re working for someone else as an employee it is the other way around in that you’re essentially helping them to build assets for their future profit, and they are paying you in return for that kind of work.

This ability to build valuable assets would surely be the favorite part of what I do. Going back to point #7, being able to build and sell assets has everything to do with the high income potential.

9. The future is not something you can count on

Things in the online world change very quickly and you have to be able to adapt in order to remain successful. Digg sold for $500,000 in 2012, just four years after they turned down a $400 million dollar offer. Other popular sites like MySpace also have become out of favor fairly rapidly.

It’s not just huge, massively popular social media sites that can be impacted by changing trends. The algorithm changes by Google have led to serious damage for businesses large and small over the past couple of years for those who may be vulnerable.

When it comes to online business, the future is not guaranteed. You’ll need to be able to implement creatively and constantly learning and improving, because things can change very quickly.

10. You’ll have to be flexible and think ahead of the curve

Because things can change so quickly, and because the future can be a gamble, as an internet marketer you’ll need to flexibility and willingness to evolve. You’ll need to improve upon what you are presently doing and learn new things in an ongoing way. If you’re able to keep adapting you will have better odds to remain successful well into the future.

How To Drive More Traffic To Your Blog

Do you own a blog or two? Having a hard time generating traffic to your blog? Would you like to increase your page count?
These are often a blogger’s dilemma. Creating a blog is relatively easy, however, maintaining it to drive in more traffic is the hard part. If you have been experiencing this, there is no need to fret. All bloggers new and old are still bumping into this concern. Here are some tips to help you address this.

Content

More than anything, any reader would be interested to go back to your blog frequently because of the value of its content. As much as possible, make sure that every blog post is truly worth posting. Make sure that the content is appealing and enticing. Make your blog educational by adding in elements of suggestions and even question-and-answer portions, then update continuously your blog. Make sure you do it at least once a week. This will allow your avid readers to expect something new every week.

Social Media

Social media is a very powerful tool that allows you to share your blog easily. You can use this as an instrument to show your blog to other people. Frequently sharing your blog post to social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, allows more people to know about the existence of your blog. For starters, you can begin by sharing the link of your blog post to your Facebook or Twitter accounts, or perhaps you can create a fan page dedicated for your blog. You can also share your posts to different FB groups for a wider audience share.

Forums

Creating a blog means you are an expert on something. To increase your authority, you can share your blog to forum sites. Create an account to a forum that, in one way or another, would easily connect to the theme of your blog. If your blog is about cars, you can join various car enthusiasm forums. You can increase your blog's visibility by participating in the conversation while dropping your blog links as part of your answer. You can even include it in your profile signature.

There are many means and ways to drive traffic to your blog. However, effort must be consistent. It is not an overnight miracle. As a blogger, you must have the dedication to not only write decent content, but also sharing it to others. These are relatively simple tips and ways that you can do in order to get your traffic rolling.

Using Social Networking Websites to Promote Your Blog

Do you know what the main purpose of a social networking website is? If you are an avid internet user, you likely do. Social networking websites are online communities that make it easier for internet users to meet and communicate with each other.

If you are an internet user who enjoys using the internet to meet new people, there is a good chance that you already belong to a social networking website.

What about an online blog? Do you have one of them? If you do, do you know that you could use your social networking website to promote your blog?

Promote your blog? Why would you want to do that? Honestly, if you have to ask yourself that question you probably shouldn’t even have one. The whole purpose of a blog is to document your thoughts, views, and opinions on a particular topic, issue, or subject.

What good will your blog do if no one reads it. In addition to sharing your thoughts with the rest of the world, did you know that you could also make money from your blog?

You can sign up for affiliate programs or other programs like Google AdSense. If you are using your blog to make money then you will definitely want to promote it.

When it comes to promoting blogs, there are many blog owners who decide to let the search engine do the work for them. Search engines, such as Google Chrome, Yahoo, and Bing use special techniques that reads the content on your website.

That content is then used to rank your website with particular keywords. This means that you run a blog on graduating from high school in New York, there is a good chance that your blog will appear in searches done on New York high schools. Although many blogs are successfully ranked in search engines, not all are. That is why you are advised against relying solely on search engines, when it comes to promoting your blog.

As previously mentioned, if you love meeting with or talking to people online, there is a good chance that you belong to a social networking website or community.

The individuals that you talk to and that are in your community are likely the individuals that you wish to target. Since most social networking websites work to connect internet users who have the same goals and common interests, there is a good chance that your online friends will enjoy reading your blog. But, before they can read your blog, you have to let them know that it exists.

When it comes to promoting your blog on social networking websites, you have a number of different options.

Your first option is to include a link to your blog in your community profile or profile page. This will allow other community members to checkout your blog, only if they wish to do so.

The other way is to inform your online friends of your blog through private messages. Once you join a social networking website and create or join a network of friends, you should easily be able to communicate with those friends. Sending each of your friends a private message with information and a link to your blog tends to be more effective than just placing a link in your profile or on your profile page.

Although there is a good chance that you are already a member of a popular social networking website, you may not be. If you are not already a member, but would like to become one, you will need to find a social networking website to join.

This can easily be done with a standard internet search. In your search, you will likely find a number of popular networking sites, such as, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter. Before becoming a community member at one of these networking sites, you may want to first examine the website to ensure that it is everything that you want it to be.

As you can easily see, there are a number of different ways that you can go about promoting your blog on online social networking websites. You never known, but, in addition to promoting your blog, you may also make new friends along the way.

The web has forever changed people’s buying habits. Instead of needing to rely on sales people to send them information, buyers now have Google and other search engines to research products, find competitors, and see how other people rate those products in blogs and reviews. Furthermore they are greatly influenced by individuals that have emerged as experts in particular subject areas who use social media to get their messages across.

This sea change in buying behavior requires vendors to re-think how they go to market, and optimize to make sure that they will get found by buyers using search engines, blogs, reviews, and social media. The term Inbound Marketing was invented by the crew at Markethive (When they were Veretekk), when they developed the techniques and technologies that are needed to get found by buyers, and to make sure that the reviews and blogs around your industry segment cover what you are doing. (Markethive provides great software tools, plus education to help you automate Inbound Marketing. The founder, Thomas Prendergast has written many great books on these topics (dating back as far as 20 years ago) “Automated Marketing”, Customer Centricity”, Building a Better Website”, “The Power of the Social Network in Search Engines”, Conference Room Advantage”.

As further evidence of this change in buying behavior, I was recently talking to the CIO of a large pharmaceutical company, and he told me how he hates spam emails from vendors, and how he had developed a canned email response to them. I asked him to forward me a copy of that email, and have excerpted a couple of paragraphs from it that quite clearly describe the carnage:

“Please understand that I get dozens of these types of messages a week. I simply do not have time to read them, dig into them, follow-up on them, or reply to them. The most effective solution to this problem is for me to ignore the messages, which is what I usually do. …

… Finally, a small comment. As a customer, I find this type of approach to sales to be largely annoying to me and unproductive for you. We learn far more about what we want to purchase by searching the web, looking for customer references in blogs and forums, word of mouth, and by finding white papers on your site that concretely describe solutions to problems we are having.”

Remarkable Content is King

A key part of getting found is making sure you show up on the first page of a Google search. The lazy marketer’s approach to doing this is to purchase Google Adwords, and pay by the click (referred to as SEM, Search Engine Marketing). However 85% of people ignore the paid ads, so to be really effective, you will need to perfect your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) skills.

SEO requires you to develop great content that your buyers will find sufficiently interesting, different or insightful, that they will want to remark on it. (The authors of Inbound Marketing refer to that as remarkable content.) When your readers remark on your content on-line, using tools like Twitter, Facebook etc., they spread the word virally to other readers and broaden your reach. These comments lead to links back to your site, which lead to ever increasing page ranking in the search engines.

To be successful at this, you will need to keep the content fresh.

Traditional web sites don’t work in this regard, as they don’t change frequently enough.

What is needed is a blog that you update regularly.

Your blog cannot simply be a sales pitch for your product, but needs to be about topics that your buyers care to read about. The tone could be educational; or humorous or controversial. But above all it needs to be highly engaging and relevant to them – i.e. remarkable.

When you post a new blog entry, you will see your site traffic surge for a few days, and then die back to a level slightly higher than before. The more you post, the faster your traffic will build. But in the end, it is the really great articles that you post that will have the most impact.

And a meritorious blog system like Markethive (actually only Markethive) produces all of the above in a simple atmosphere of massive content curation that is immediately rewarded or rejected, building amazing content is King results, or something like that.

Once you have interesting content, you can use social media like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc. to get the word out. Thus Marketing simplifies this to a level of totally simple results, but then, like EST (You remember EST Erhard Seminar Training), you need to gain experience. No lofty, descriptive words can truly do it justice. Your goal is to get other bloggers to link to you, and to have people tweet about your content.

An interesting thing about a marketing department that focuses on Inbound Marketing: it will place a high value on people that know how to write and develop content that draws in an audience. A silver lining to the damage that the internet has inflicted on the publishing industry is that there are plenty of very talented journalists seeking employment, and they possess the perfect skills for this job! So as an adjunct to developing your skills and expertise in creating and publishing great content, a very helpful tactic would be to get in contact with some of these talents and put them to work for you. Simple but effective.